Boxing Popularity in Indonesia
There is some interesting information about boxing in Indonesia nowadays. The popularity of Indonesian boxing is reportedly decrease due to the MMA trend which is currently in high demand mode.
Indonesian veteran boxer, Chris John also admitted this current fact. When compared with previous years, there is a lack of live broadcasting of boxing matches nowadays.
Another interesting fact is although boxing’s popularity is decrease in Indonesia, the world’s boxers are still having higher paid than MMA Boxers. MMA stands for Mixed Martial Arts. So, boxers in MMA fights are allowed to do a combination of moves, such as hitting, kicking, and wrestling.
However, the Managing Director of Mahkota Promotion, Urgyen Rinchen Sim, denied this current news. According to him, World Boxing and MMA have different market segments. Furthermore, the promoter of Indonesian Boxer, Daud Yordan, also gave some examples. For example, Mayweather be able to get paid USD 100 million or around IDR 1.3 trillion in just one fight.
Another example, the professional boxer from The Philippines, Manny Pacquiao can aslo earn up to USD 20 million.
Unfortunately, he did not mention further details about Daud Yordan’s fee per fight. Thus, Urgyen Rinchen Sim emphasized that the boxing industry has an attractive industry and target market.
Furthermore, Indonesia has several big-name boxers as legends who also have huge experience on international fights. The Indonesian professional boxers are Ellyas Pical, Nico Thomas, M Rahman, Chris John, Daud Yordan, and Ongen Saknosiwi.
Those Indonesian boxing legends appeared since 1970s. There are so many fans of this extreme sport, from just simply viewers to those who want to practice boxing directly.
Looking back, in October 1973, there were 35,000 spectators who came to Senayan Jakarta Stadium to watch the boxing action of Muhammad Ali and Rudi Lubbers. 12 years later, Indonesia has their own World Champions, namely Ellyas “The Exocet” Pical. He was the IBF Junior Bantamweight World Champion in May 1985.
Right until now, boxing legends as Chris John, Daud Cino Yordan, and Ongen Saknosiwi has been becoming popular. But, don’t forget the other legends, Ellyas Pical, Nico Thomas, and other ‘80s boxers.